Treatment of diseases can be challenging. This is especially true when the disease is complex. In these cases, medical service providers such as doctors have a limited window of time in which to make critical decisions regarding patient treatment and care. When dealing with a complex medical condition, the medical provider may be faced with a voluminous amount of information from which to determine the proper course of treatment. Yet the patient's situation may be such that the medical provider does not know or does not have the time to adequately review all of the relevant information regarding the proper standard of care.
An example of such a complex case is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). CKD is the material loss of function of the kidneys and it involves a combination of several other common, complex diseases. CKD is primarily caused by diabetes and high blood pressure but it also causes or complicates high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, bone and mineral diseases and anemia, among other conditions. CKD is currently a public health crisis affecting an estimated 26 million Americans and doing irreparable damage to vital body functions, yet most people with CKD are unaware they have the condition.
Other examples of poorly treated complex diseases include osteoporosis and thyroid disease. Osteoporosis is a metabolic disturbance of the skeleton characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone, leading to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fracture, especially of the hip, spine, and wrist. Proper treatment of osteoporosis requires access to sophisticated bone density scanning technology, blood testing to rule out secondary causes of the disease which, if present, require different treatment, evidence based interpretations of the bone density and blood tests, understanding of treatment alternatives and their efficacy.
Thyroid disease occurs when the thyroid gland does not supply the proper amount of hormones needed by the body. If the thyroid is overactive, it releases too much thyroid hormone into the bloodstream, resulting in hyperthyroidism. An underactive thyroid produces too little thyroid hormone, resulting in hypothyroidism. Treating thyroid disease with maximum effectiveness requires testing of different dosages of complex medications with often frustrating imbalances over time for the patient and the physician.
It is widely recognized that the complexity of treatment of diseases such as CKD and others as well as the growth of new treatments and of medical research into the effectiveness of existing treatments makes it a daunting task for physicians to know and practice at the state of the art. Embodiments of the present invention address this problem by, for example, making the clinical laboratory the organizer, integrator and interpreter of the primary data that is necessary for a physician to understand, treat and prevent chronic kidney disease.